Boxing about to take stats to the next level

Boxing is pretty oldschool but every so often they get newfangled gadgets like those crazy slo-mo cameras that shoot at 500 to 1000 frames per second. You know, the ones that show you ” target=”_blank”>a shockwave of flesh rippling across a fighters’ face with every blow? Now they may be getting even more futuristic on our asses with the addition of a glove sensor that will tell analysts everything about everything:

According to Ronnie Nathanielsz of Boxing Scene, HBO is seeking permission from the WBC to use a 1″ x 1″ sensor in the wrist of the boxing glove. Theoretically, this device would be able to measure the speed and force of the punches thrown in real time. The device has already been tested at 60 professional fights and countless amateur fights. I would assume that this would be the first time that this device has been used on a televised card. To borrow from the software vernacular, this would essentially be beta testing for the device before the designers choose to go gold.

The amount of data that would be available after this device becomes fully adopted will be staggering. We could figure out what a fighter’s average punch speed is for each type of punch that he throws. We would be able to tell if a fighter is slowing down by looking as his average punch speed over his past couple of fights. If a boxer got knocked out by a punch, we could figure out the amount of force necessary to knock that boxer out, and which fighters in the division are capable of producing that kind of power. There would be no more arguments about who is the biggest puncher in a given division, because we would have the measurements. Same thing goes for the fastest hands in a given division. Also it would be easy to figure out if a boxer is carrying his power with him as he goes up or down in weight.

Some of those stats are the kind of things boxers probably don’t want to get out, like what round they start slowing down and how powerful their punches are near the end of the fight. But boy oh boy would stats nerds and bookies love that sh*t. Watching the numbers flow out of those fancy glove sensors would be more exciting than watching the fights themselves. Now we just have to wonder how long it’ll take for science to miniaturize these sensors til we can fit them in MMA’s tiny gloves.

Yes, I genuinely don’t believe fighters want info getting out like how much slower/weaker their punches are or how many opponents throw hard enough to KO them. Better yet, would athletic commissions use that data to choose what fights get sanctioned?? Sounds like a bad idea for proponents of brain damage & violence.

DJ ThunderElbows

Wll there be sensors on their jaws and feet to register how they were moving when they got hit? If not this info’s largely worthless except for measuring maximum amounts of force dispensed so far. They won’t be able to guage who’s hits harder without the full picture.

1″ by 1″? probably a flat little silicon wafer, could be put in the wrist wrap of the glove. Combine with that mouthguard, that’d be pretty sweet. Excpet MMA would be missing out on some other vitals…..like kicks (that’s a 30mph baseball bat to your liver, poopgut!). Knees and elbows…..meh, their power doesn’t come so much from velocity as from tourque of larger muscle groups.

Of course you can figure……these are just RFID chips. Eddie Bravo’s gonna lose his fucking mind. Joey Varner too, from the sounds of “Tapped Out”. Get your tinfoils hats out boys! Good thing Matt already gave Joey one….

Symbul

Need sensors in MMA fighters’ shorts to give Rogan and Goldie more stuff to work with during the 5 min break, and to tell us with how much force Cheick Kongo is wedgie-ing his opponent at any given time.